YOU CAN’T END A SUPERB CAREER IN A FIVE-MINUTE TELEPHONE CALL

It IS little wonder Stuart Broad has reacted with such anger and frustration to England’s decision to drop him and Jimmy Anderson for their Caribbean tour. the passion he showed in his Mail on Sunday column is typical of Broad. Both him and Anderson care deeply about playing for their country and have done for many years. We can’t expect them to give their all and show how much playing for England means to them and not be upset when it is harshly taken away. Selection is about picking a side to win your next test against the opposition and conditions in front of you, but you do need to have some kind of future planning. the problem is that over the last couple of years England have done too much future planning, deciding well in advance which players will play and not concentrating enough on their next task. If England’s next test, against West Indies on March 8, was the World test Championship final, would Broad and Anderson have been on the plane? Of course they would. they are anything but diminishing cricketers, as they have shown over the last couple of years. Anderson, in particular, has proven himself far more than a one-dimensional bowler. His away form has been phenomenal. England want a red ball re-set but the areas of concern have not included Broad and Anderson (above), nor Joe Root batting at four. I’ve always been an advocate of Root batting at three, as he plans to do in the Caribbean, but his stats at four have been exceptional. Yes, England do need to move on from their two champion fast bowlers at some stage, but that can come from natural progression. Certainly their issues have been in the batting, regularly being 20 for three or bowled out for 150. that is not Broad and Anderson’s fault. I just hope this is not the ‘management’ of two outspoken senior players with big personalities. that sort of thing does my head in. Part of being captain and in management is dealing with people at different stages of their career, people who speak their mind and can be difficult at times. I am not for picking a team of yes-men, all goody two-shoes, because that doesn’t win you test matches. Sometimes a strong personality makes a person the cricketer they are and your job as captain is to deal with that. Broad and Anderson deserve better than this. they deserve loyalty. they have been there for England time after time. the work they put in behind the scenes, the training, the fitness, the coming back from injury, strapping on the boots to pull the batsmen out of another hole. they are all-time great cricketers, still at the top of their game into their late and mid-30s. It can only be hoped that their long and distinguished careers have not been ended by a five-minute phone call.